Kinecthttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/5263/all
enMicrosoft Explains How Tech Will Reshape Home Entertainmenthttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/microsoft-explains-how-tech-will-reshape-home-entertainment-152948
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/yusef-mehdi-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
To Microsoft&#39;s Yusuf Mehdi, the best way to understand technology is to play with it.</p>
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&quot;Be a consumer of the technology. Be out there first and use it, live it,&quot; Mehdi said today, at the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix. &quot;Your kids are living it now. Spend time with them and see how it&#39;s going.&quot;</p>
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Mehdi, as vp of marketing and strategy, interactive entertainment at Microsoft, leads marketing efforts on Xbox. And while he used Xbox and Microsoft&#39;s Kinect platform to illustrate his presentation, he spoke more broadly about how tech will shape entertainment in the future.</p>
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Not surprisingly, Mehdi expects the home&#39;s most powerful computing machine to be connected to a TV screen. The machine also will be linked to other devices like smart phones and tablets, enabling it to better understand the likes and dislikes of users.</p>
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Today, &quot;those devices are horribly disconnected,&quot; Mehdi said. &quot;We&#39;re going to be able to sync up all those devices&quot; and the synchronicity among them can be applied to advertising, he added.</p>
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At the same time, consumers will expect more relevant marketing.</p>
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&quot;You will need to understand the consumer in a deeper way in the living room, in the entertainment room,&quot; Mehdi said. &quot;So, all of the power and accountability that we&#39;ve come to learn and love in online through things like search--that power and accountability will be expected and delivered in the living room with all forms of entertainment.&quot;</p>
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Sensors, already a force in home gaming, will play an even bigger role, reading everything from body movements and heart rates to facial expressions, according to Mehdi. Moreover, he expects the current era of touch screens will give way to voice commands, as digital natives shift from signing in to calling out.</p>
Technologyinteractive tvKinectMicrosoftsensorsXboxAndrew McMainsSat, 05 Oct 2013 19:11:58 +0000152948 at http://www.adweek.comXbox Makes Bold Push to Own Living Roomhttp://www.adweek.com/videowatch/xbox-makes-bold-push-own-living-room-152650
Mike Shields<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/xbox1-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Microsoft has made a bold move toward controlling consumers&#39; relationship with television, while potentially reshaping the living room entertainment and ad experience with the upcoming launch of the <a href="http://www.theverge.com/products/xbox-one/6974" target="_blank">Xbox One</a> gaming console.</p>
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At the center of that ambitious push is the new Kinect, which Xbox Advertising GM Ross Honey called a &quot;game changer.&quot; Compared to the original Kinect, which Honey said was designed to&nbsp;only used for &quot;simple moves and casual games, the&nbsp;new Kinect sensor is for something else entirely. It is a&nbsp;foundational part of the platform.&quot;</p>
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One that will play the same role as GPS has in smartphones, Honey argues, making TVs super personal&mdash;which could have huge implications for programmers and advertisers. &quot;Right now, TV&nbsp;is not a personalized device in any way,&quot; said Honey. &quot;It is one size fits all. It doesn&#39;t know who is watching. That is totally&nbsp;unlike phones, where GPS has made them&nbsp;personal and meaningful....[Kinect]&nbsp;is the unique technology on the TV that will make it as magical and personal.&quot;</p>
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Honey demonstrated some of that potential personal magic during an impressive keynote presentation on Monday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau&#39;s Mixx Conference in New York. The new <a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/meet-xbox-one" target="_blank">Xbox One</a> will allow users to control their TV&#39;s main functionality through voice commands. And the Xbox One Interface will allow viewers to create a personalized &quot;My Shows&quot; section that will be unique to each person. My Shows will list content regardless of provider&mdash;in other words, you&#39;ll be able to look at what shows you have available, whether from regular TV, Netflix, VOD, iTunes, etc.</p>
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The bet is that Kinect will know who is in the room at a given moment, and each individual&#39;s voice commands will alert the Xbox to surface the most relevant media offerings. Honey hardly mentioned <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/jan13/01-07nuadspr.aspx" target="_blank">Xbox advertising</a>, but it was easily to imagine the possibilities.&nbsp;</p>
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Essentially, the new Kinect is Microsoft&#39;s bet that it is best suited to win the battle for control of the TV user interface over cable and set manufacturers. The company&#39;s goals seems to be that a consumer&#39;s XBox login will ultimately people&#39;s identity when watching TV, and Xbox One&#39;s promise is that the device can make the TV viewing experience much simpler.</p>
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&quot;Live TV&nbsp;should be an easy simple experience and&nbsp;increasingly its not,&quot; said Honey, referring to the various&nbsp;remotes and inputs inherent to the connected TV experience. &quot;That changes on Xbox One. No memorizing channel numbers or fumbling remotes. And the&nbsp;experience is based on who is in the room This is why we bet on Kinect.&quot;</p>
TechnologyAdvertising WeekGamingIabKinectMicrosoftMike ShieldsOver the top tvTvVideoXboxMon, 23 Sep 2013 20:05:21 +0000152650 at http://www.adweek.comBrands Are Eager to Partner With Cirque du Soleil http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/brands-are-eager-partner-cirque-du-soleil-150147
Joan Voight<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/tt-advertising-circus-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Some would argue that advertising has always been essentially a three-ring circus. And now <a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/" target="_blank">Cirque du Soleil</a>, home to lavish spectacles that are today&rsquo;s version of the traveling big top, is literally turning the ad business into a high-wire act, as it expands aggressively into marketing and branding partnerships.</p>
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The Montreal-based entertainment company is being enlisted by more and more major brands to create custom performances and other theatrical embellishments to grab consumers&rsquo; attention while forming emotional bonds.</p>
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Cirque showed off its marketing chops last month at the second annual <a href="http://www.c2mtl.com/" target="_blank">Creativity + Commerce Conference</a> (known as C2) in Montreal. Branded programs by partners Intel and Fast Company magazine were introduced at the event with light shows and various stage performances.</p>
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&ldquo;With our background in entertainment, we are seeking to create artistic experiences&mdash;or content&mdash;that help brands appeal to their key audience,&rdquo; said Daniel Lamarre, Cirque&rsquo;s CEO.</p>
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To date, the company has collaborated primarily with tech brands. For example, this past September Cirque promoted Google&rsquo;s Chrome browser by creating a game-like app, <a href="http://www.movikantirevo.com/" target="_blank">Movi.Kanti.Revo</a>, in which the user makes his way through a surreal world, encountering Cirque characters along the way.</p>
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In 2010, Microsoft hired Cirque to launch the Kinect system for Xbox with a customized performance during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. There, Cirque created a jungle-like environment including a stage where gamers battled it out on an enormous screen. Future executions might include live and recorded branded events on various platforms including social media, according to Lamarre.</p>
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When Cirque&rsquo;s content meets just the right marketer, magic can happen, according to marketing experts.</p>
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&ldquo;Cirque du Soleil&rsquo;s meaningful difference comes from giving people an authentic, amazing experience that transcends cultural boundaries,&rdquo; said Nigel Hollis, chief global analyst at marketing research agency Millward Brown. &ldquo;Brands like Google, Coca-Cola and Nike, which have strong identities that complement Cirque du Soleil&rsquo;s strengths, could be great partners.&rdquo;</p>
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On the flip side, working with a brand lacking in that certain wow factor could well undermine Cirque&rsquo;s credibility and damage its brand, Hollis added.</p>
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&ldquo;Mixing pure artistry with commercial needs requires a balance,&rdquo; said Lamarre. For Cirque, it helps that large brands are intrigued by its story. &ldquo;They know about our history and how we started as street performers,&rdquo; said Lamarre, &ldquo;and they want to hear about how we do what we do.&rdquo;</p>
Advertising & BrandingC2Cannes 2013CircusCoca-ColaContentJoan VoightFast CompanyGoogleKinectMagazine ContentMicrosoftMillward BrownMovi.Kanti.RevoNikeXboxMon, 10 Jun 2013 03:20:12 +0000150147 at http://www.adweek.comSesame Streethttp://www.adweek.com/video/advertising-branding/sesame-street-140022
<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/1126101268_1619947477001_vs-1619938144001.jpgpubid1126101268"> Advertising & BrandingKinectnextechXbox140022 at http://www.adweek.comChris Pratt Battles Darth Vader in Kinect's Star Wars Spothttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/chris-pratt-battles-darth-vader-kinects-star-wars-spot-137848
David Kiefaber<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/darth-vader-chris-pratt.jpg"> <p>
<em>Parks and Recreation</em>&#39;s Chris Pratt plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in this video from AKQA for Kinect <em>Star Wars</em>. This annoys Darth Vader about as much as you&#39;d expect. Really, this spot could have ended after the first pratfall (or rather, Pratt-fall) without much of value being lost, but it&#39;s nice to see how Burt Macklin trains for the Secret Service. Hopefully they&#39;ll keep him on counterfeiter duty for a little while longer&mdash;his Force powers clearly aren&#39;t disciplined enough yet to protect the president. The game itself is out April 1.</p>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="302" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yh7XaFLAyPU" width="484"></iframe></p>
Advertising & BrandingAkqaGamingKinectMicrosoftStar WarsMon, 30 Jan 2012 18:26:40 +0000137848 at http://www.adweek.comAd of the Day: Kinecthttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-kinect-136325
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/kinect-doctor.jpg"> <p>
It&rsquo;s been a year since Microsoft launched Kinect for Xbox 360, a retail phenomenon that set a Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling consumer device ever. Eight million units flew off store shelves in the first couple months alone. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQmnp6GTJ8" target="_blank">The initial advertising</a> showcased Kinect&rsquo;s motion-controlled gaming technology in a fast-moving TV spot with users playing games, dancing, and working out to a catchy beat.</p>
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Since then, Microsoft has been seeking a larger role for Kinect, wanting to move it beyond entertainment. The company has encouraged others to find new applications for the technology in areas like medicine and education. In June, Microsoft released a non-commercial version of its Kinect SDK for hackers to play around with, and just this week the company said it would make available a commercial version of the software early next year so businesses can find other new uses.</p>
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This new spot, &quot;The Kinect Effect,&quot; from twofifteenmccann in San Francisco, picks up from last year&rsquo;s &quot;You are the Controller&quot; ad. It starts with Kinect&rsquo;s entertainment applications and then moves the technology into areas like music, education, and medicine. The commercial does a good job in communicating Kinect&rsquo;s visionary potential and, in doing so, infers a larger image message underscoring Microsoft&rsquo;s open-source encouragement of experimentation. It also feels a little Apple-esque. In part that&rsquo;s because of the spot&rsquo;s sophisticated simplicity and lovely cover of &ldquo;Where Is My Mind?&rdquo; by the Pixies. But any similarities might also reflect the opportunity to put a human face on a technology giant, the sort of chance you don&rsquo;t often get with enterprise software.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/diy7rkWkDtU" width="560"></iframe><br><br>
Client: Microsoft Xbox<br />
Agency: twofifteenmccann<br />
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon<br />
Creative Directors: Paul Caiozzo, James Robinson<br />
Art Director: Nik Daum<br />
Copywriter: Neil Bruce<br />
Director of Integrated Production: Tom Wright<br />
Production Company: Anonymous Content<br />
Director: Malcolm Venville<br />
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Advertising & BrandingTechnologyAd of The DayGamingKinectMicrosoftThu, 03 Nov 2011 18:59:59 +0000136325 at http://www.adweek.comTech Geeks Finally Finding Dance Partners Thanks to Kinecthttp://www.adweek.com/adfreak/tech-geeks-finally-finding-dance-partners-thanks-kinect-132025
Gabriel Beltrone<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/androidify_dance.jpg"> <p>
After Microsoft&#39;s Xbox Kinect launched last year, geeks and artists didn&#39;t waste much time hacking the motion-reading technology so they could play around with blending physical movement and digital graphics. John Watkinson, co-founder of mobile development shop and Google collaborator Larva Labs, puts in a notable effort with this particular project. His jawless doppelganger is from Androidify, a promotional app that Larva developed with Google Creative Labs that generates personalized avatars in the style of the platform&#39;s robot mascot. (Thomas Gayno, a marketing manager at the latter shop, had a hand in this video, <a href="http://malbonnington.com/kinect-androidify-x-techno-lots-of-fun-video" target="_blank">per director of strategy Ben Malbon&#39;s blog</a>). Watkinson&#39;s heartfelt, dubious dancing seems justified by the fact that there&#39;s already a second version of himself at his side mocking every arm-waving, crotch-grabbing move&mdash;and thus sparing us the trouble. Laugh with Watkinson, or laugh at him. Either way, it&#39;s pretty funny.&nbsp;</p>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="363" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RgenqulfYLs" width="484"></iframe></p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyKinectMicrosoftGabriel Beltrone132025 at http://www.adweek.com